Just installed Pigments trial. I am kinda done with all these synths that give me 10 sounds where 8 sounds are sounddesign for film but don’t hold up when playing a tune.
That said. Pigments is USABLE. So now my question. Will there be an arturia hardware version of this? And will it be controllable by my keylab 88 MKII till that day arrives?
Hi @Muziekschuur,
Arturias software instruments can be controlled by any controller.
They also have a premade MIDI config template for Arturias MKII controllers, if that’s what you mean.
Nobody but Arturia can know if Pigments will be a hardware synth. Arturia will tell in their newsletter and on their website, when it’s a reality, if it ever will be.
Pigments is extremely versatile and very deep. There are hundreds of patches, available so I am sure you will find something to suit your needs. Failing that, you could always create your own.
Regarding a h/w version; I think that is highly unlikely as it would either require a multitude of controls which would be cost prohibitive or if using minimal controls, would require menu diving which defeats the purpose of a dedicated controller. The Keylab represents a halfway house where some mappings are already setup for Pigments directly or via Analog Labs.
I am taken by it’s usable sounds. Sounds that make chords, have mostly ‘piano like’ usability and can be approached like a instrument.
I would totally buy this too. If it became a hardware synthesizer.
Thank you for the help pairing my MKII with the soft synth. Those things are a miracle for us users.
I was annoyed when I looked at the ASM Leviasynth. Because again so many ‘video esk’ scapes that when you have words, chords and a melody are just a distraction. Keeps me from materializing a song. Instead of being a inspirational instrument.
This Pigments synth on the contrary (To the mentioned Levia synth) gives me melodic sounds.
Thank you Arturia team.
Yup!
Pigments IS an utter monster of a synth alright, and that’s why we love it!
One of its biggest advantages, the fact that it’s been evolving, and appears to KEEP evolving, somewhat relentlessly some would say 
, means that it would have to CONSTANTLY be able to update its physical hardware to keep up with it.
Look at the original release and the hardware specs needed to run it, fast-forward to now and compare them… There’s your answer!
My own PERSONAL opinion is that it would be financial suicide to try and release such a device.
People have tried ‘upgradeable’ synths in the past, but technology moves on and what was state-of-the-art 20 years ago is positively ‘ancient’ these days… Think about how digital storage has changed just in the past 10 years or so… it was only 30 years ago that floppy discs were the ‘storage du jour’… pitiful capacity and incredibly ‘volatile’ by today’s standards…
That’s just off the top of my head too…
I’d LOVE Arturia to prove me wrong though.
I hadn’t even factored in the complexities involved in accommodating new features.
No upgradeable hardware synth. I mean why. You could map knobs and then use a softsynth. So that would not be needed. But a hardware synthesizer is a tactile device. Something that is ‘safe’ during a gig. No ‘update’ to f…ool with the OS 2 minutes before… disaster.
Maybe a silly question… But isn’t there a better name than ‘pigments’ ?
Pigments can in a way be used with/ in the Astrolabs.
https://www.arturia.com/products/hardware-synths/astrolab/astrolab-61
Pigments has to do with colors. Both sounds and the GUI have many colors. Fitting name.
Hi @Muziekschuur
I’m not sure how much you know about the history of Pigments, but it was released in 2018.
Since then, it has had quite a few updates and new engines/effects/various other things added during its time/development.
If a hardware version were to be released today, the hardware version would only be able to follow the plugin version, in terms of development, for a fairly short time.
Pigments has been around for about seven years now, and in that time processor technology, Pigments is a digital synth and so reliant on them, has moved on MASSIVELY.
So, that would leave Arturia with a dilemma, would they cease development of Pigments altogether, or have to release an updated/upgraded hardware version to keep up?
Customers of the V1 would most likely be unhappy, i know this as i’m one of the mods on here, and we read pretty much every post, so we have a good idea of what things annoy people in general.
That’s the point i was making in my previous post. Pigments KEEPS growing, developing, maturing, all because it’s tied to personal computers, rather than dedicated or proprietary hardware.
HTH!
Do you know that synthesizer/computer/keyboard that could run Vst-i’s? It went out of business a few years ago. Open Labs Neko work station.
Not to steer anyone that way. But you could make a closed software running synthesizer like that. The task of a keyboard is a different one than a VST-i. A keyboard synthesizer is a performance instrument. The VST-i is a studio tool.
There have been multiple attempts at this kind of thing, basically running around a rack mounted PC, This one dates from 2005. You can still buy rack mounted PCs and MANY live keyboard players do, i know of a couple who work with ‘VERY big name’ artists who use exactly that, with various virtual instruments. Omnisphere being VERY popular in that field, as well as rather a lot of Arturia virtual synths.
Pretty much ALL virtual or ‘real’ synths can be ‘performance instruments’ as you put it, in the hands of a decent performer. I once watched a 20 minute triangle solo ‘for a laugh’ many years ago, on BBC2 TV here in The UK, i was shocked! It was a genuinely engaging performance from some Chinese dude and two bits of metal…
To get back on topic. I have a Mac book Pro from 2012. I use Air instruments and V-instruments 11 . As a host I have blue cat audio patchworx and something similar on there.
I will be receiving a Roland UM 3G this week. So I can connect the laptop to my set over midi. So the laptop works as a sound generator for my Pro tools 10HD rig. (Outputs of the laptop to two channels on my Control24 and into Protools.)
That way any artist can change the synths he or she is using. And so on.
I found this video from Arturia.
Pigments is DEEP. That’s its whole point. And if the changes we’ve seen from version to version are any indication, they built it as a software instrument instead of as hardware for a reason. That reason being so they could integrate whole new sound engines as needed over its life cycle without limitation. That would not be possible if it were a hardware instrument.
As far as sound types it can do, sound design film type stuff is something it excels at. Yes it can do basic synth sounds pretty well also, but honestly if that’s all you’re looking for, Pigments seems like it would be a waste to me.
If you just want synth and keyboard sounds that ‘hold up when playing a tune’ and you want it in hardware, get yourself a Nord for piano/rhodes/organ duties and then throw a Juno X on top of it and call it a day.
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